Sir, – What seems to be overlooked in the discussion on the commemoration of 1916 is the fact that the choice of two lines of advance for this nation that faced us then still remained in the years that followed – the line of constitutional nationalism or the line of force of arms. A tiny minority of a minority led the nation in an armed campaign in 1916 but we, as a people, chose and continue to choose constitutional nationalism, voting in large numbers for the Treaty when it was offered.
It is one thing to acknowledge those who sacrificed their lives for their beliefs, as well as sadly remembering the tragic deaths of those 250 innocent civilians, including 40 children, but another to tell the families of the 170,000 of the 180,000 Irish Volunteers, who went with Redmond in his fight for Home Rule, that their relatives were wrong.
Two thousand “came out” for the Rising but 200,000 followed the call from the Irish Parliamentary Party to fight for Home Rule in the first World War. We hear a lot about the relatives of those who took part in the Rising but very little on the relatives of those who followed the constitutional path. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK D GOGGIN,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.